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California Farmworkers’ Strikes Of 1933, Kate Bronfenbrenner
California Farmworkers’ Strikes Of 1933, Kate Bronfenbrenner
Kate Bronfenbrenner
[Excerpt] The spring of 1933 ushered in a wave of labor unrest unparalleled in the history of California agriculture. Starting in April with the Santa Clara pea harvest, strikes erupted throughout the summer and fall as each crop ripened for harvest. The strike wave culminated with the San Joaquin Valley strike, the largest and most important strike in the history of American agriculture. All told, more than 47,500 farmworkers participated in the 1933 strikes. Twenty-four of these strikes, involving approximately 37,500 workers, were under the leadership of the Communist-led Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (CAWIU). In a dramatic reversal …
Imperial Valley, California, Farmworkers’ Strike Of 1934, Kate Bronfenbrenner
Imperial Valley, California, Farmworkers’ Strike Of 1934, Kate Bronfenbrenner
Kate Bronfenbrenner
[Excerpt] In early November 1933, organizers from the Communist-led Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (CAWIU) returned to the Imperial Valley, where just four years before their first strike among California's agricultural workers had ended in a swift and inglorious defeat. Now they returned to the valley, fresh from their strike victories in the fall fruit harvest campaign, confident that the time was now ripe to bring unionization to the Imperial Valley lettuce fields. Conditions in the valley in November 1933 certainly appeared more conducive to the CAWIU's success. Wages for lettuce workers were as low as ten cents an …
Imperial Valley, California, Farmworkers’ Strike Of 1930, Kate Bronfenbrenner
Imperial Valley, California, Farmworkers’ Strike Of 1930, Kate Bronfenbrenner
Kate Bronfenbrenner
[Excerpt] On January 1, 1930, several hundred Mexican and Filipino lettuce workers in Brawley, California, walked off their jobs in a spontaneous protest against declining wages and intolerable working conditions. In less than a week they were joined by 5,000 other field workers, and the impromptu walkout of Imperial Valley lettuce workers turned into a serious strike, ushering in a decade of farmworker militancy that sent tremors throughout California's powerful agricultural establishment.